


A Golden Thread

by Twinklefae



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bonding, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Major Character Injury, Sisters, Surprisingly fluffy end, head canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 03:54:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11305158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twinklefae/pseuds/Twinklefae
Summary: When Maggie decided that she really wanted to kiss Alex, that they were ride or die, she knew that Kara was part of the package.  Alex talked about her sister all the time.Maggie exploring what it really takes to be in a relationship with Supergirl's big sister.





	A Golden Thread

**Author's Note:**

> I do not have a beta, so all mistakes are my own. 
> 
> Story title is from this quote:  
> “A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.”  
> – Isadora James
> 
> This takes place somewhere after Alex and Maggie get together in 2nd season, but other than that it kind of free floats away from all the other plots. Especially Mon-El, who I have big feelings about that won't make anyone happy. But I'm saving that for a different fic, so you'll have to wait and see.
> 
> Oh, and apparently in my head, Maggie has a potty mouth. Makes sense to me.

When Maggie decided that she really wanted to kiss Alex, that they were ride or die, she knew that Kara was part of the package. Alex talked about her all the time. But it always seemed like there was something she wasn't saying. Obviously Kara was different somehow, and Maggie wondered if she'd had cancer as a teen or something like that. Something to bring out this intense need to protect her in Alex. Because realistically, how much trouble could a reporter who wore pastel cardigans without irony get into?

 

It wasn't until Alex tried to break up with her, and then tried to excuse it by saying that Supergirl was missing that it made sense. The words were out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. "Supergirl's your sister." Something changed in Alex's face; her eyes shuttered even as her tone of voice hardly faltered. But when Maggie laid the facts out, she was so... relieved. It was amazing, both that she was right, and that Alex felt good about her knowing.

 

Later that night, curled up in bed together Maggie had to bring it up again. "So, Kara is your sister, an alien, and Supergirl? How did that happen?"

 

Alex sighed. "It's a long story."

 

"I'm not going anywhere."

 

"So when Kara was 13, her planet, Krypton, was about to explode. They used the planets core for fuel, and the whole thing was ripping itself apart. Her uncle and aunt had a baby, Kal-El, and they had decided to send him to Earth for his own protection. But a baby is rather vulnerable, so they asked Kara's parents if they wanted to send her too. And of course her parents said yes."

 

"I'd heard that before, but seriously, the whole planet is gone?"

 

"Space dust." Alex nodded. "Anyway, Kal-El went first, and his pod arrived here right on schedule. Kara's pod went second, and apparently got caught in the shock wave when the planet blew. It knocked her into something called the Phantom Zone."

 

"Seriously? That sounds like something out of a cheesy old comic book."

 

"I know, but I didn't name it that. And the place itself isn't very funny. Basically, time doesn't pass there. And Kara's pod was trapped there for 24 years."

 

"And she was aware?"  


"No? And yes? The place terrifies her, so it's really hard to get a straight answer. Basically, the pods kept Kara and Kal-El in stasis. But you can only stay in stasis so long, or it's bad for your brain. So in theory they were woken a few times on the trip here. It should have been like waking in the middle of the night, where you don't really remember it in the morning. But for whatever reason, the Phantom Zone is a little more memorable than that. So she doesn't say she remembers it, but whatever she saw during those brief wakings, it left an impression. She has nightmares about it sometimes."

 

Maggie shivered and cuddled closer to Alex. "That's shitty. So how did she end up with you?"

 

"So after 24 years something happened and her pod finally got loose and managed to get her to Earth. When she landed, her cousin Kal-El was already grown."

 

"Wait! Kal-El is Superman?"

 

"Yup. Except he had landed as a baby, and been raised by humans. So he goes by Clark Kent now."

 

"Clark Kent is Superman!"

 

Alex put a gentle hand over her mouth. "Yell it a little louder why don't you!" she said, laughing.

 

"I'm sorry, but holy shit!"

 

"I know!"

 

"Sorry. Back to the story?"

 

"Right, so Superman finds her pod and the first thing she sees is this tall guy who barely speaks her language with her families crest on his chest."

 

"Family crest? I really thought the S was for Super."

 

"No, it's the symbol of the House of El. Kara will wear it everyday if she can. When she arrived it was embroidered into her clothes."

 

"Well, all that CatCo merchandise must help."

 

"You have no idea." Alex rolled her eyes. "Anyway, my parents were both scientists who'd been able to study Superman in return for helping him learn about and manage his powers. They were the ones who discovered things like the fact that they can't see through lead. Plus, the information that Superman had given them about Krypton had largely been in Kryptonian, so they actually spoke the language better than he did."

 

"Okay, so I get why your parents made good foster parents for Kara, but why didn't her cousin keep her? I've seen them together, he likes her and they get along."

 

Alex sighed. "Well, that's kind of the million dollar question. In theory, it's because it would have been too dangerous to have Kara exposed to Superman's enemies, and because Clark was just out of school and trying to succeed as a reporter and working long hours."

 

"In theory?"

 

"Well, in reality, none of that mattered to Kara, who lost it when he left her with us. She landed on this planet after saying goodbye to her parents, and then lost the mission they had given her; to protect Kal-El. Which is some misogynistic bullshit right there.."

 

"They told her that?"

 

"Yup. Our planet is about to explode but we're only saving you to be a babysitter."

 

"Shit. So much for the enlightened alien culture."

 

"Anyway, it took a long time for Kara to adapt. And the one person who really could have helped her, who knew what it was like to be different wasn't there. She had to learn a new language, a new culture, and on top of all of that she had these new powers."

 

"New?"

 

"Kara and Clark both get their power from Earth's sun."

 

"Okay."

 

"Krypton's sun was a Red Dwarf, which emits a different kind of radiation. She didn't have powers on Krypton."

 

"That's crazy."

 

"No, what was crazy was how much stuff she broke the first few years. Super strength is handy for saving planes, but not so much when handling cutlery."

 

"Which I suppose leads to her sister working overtime to help her compensate."

 

"We knew that if Kara attracted the wrong kind of attention that the government would want to monitor her, and would take her away. So yeah, I had to help her."

 

"Explains the lying. You are a scary good liar Danvers."

 

Alex snorted. "One of us had to be. Kara is awful."

 

"That she is." Maggie rolled onto her back to think about this. "So, Kara hit a certain age and just decided to join her cousin in running around with a cape on?"

 

Alex didn't say anything, but cuddled into Maggie's side.

 

"Alex?"

 

"The first thing Supergirl did was save a plane, right?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"I was on the plane."

 

Maggie blinked. "Holy fucking shit, are you kidding me?"

 

"No, she did it for me. And the first thing I did was yell at her. I was terrified that she'd revealed herself like that."

 

Maggie kissed her head. "You love her. Sometimes when we are worried about the people that we love we do crappy things like yell at them when they make us worry."

 

"It feels like so long ago. That was before Cat Grant had named her Supergirl, before the suit, before the cape."

 

"The suit and cape are separate?"

 

"The suit was designed by Kara's friend Winn, he works at the DEO now, but he used to just be a scary good nerd who sewed this amazing suit for her that holds up to what she puts it through. The cape he really struggled with though. Until Clark sent her the fabric for it. It was in the pod with him when he landed." Alex gave a little chuckle.

 

"Supergirl's cape is a baby blanket?"

 

"Yup."

 

"Please tell me I can tease her about this?"

 

"Not her. To her it's precious because it's from Krypton. Tease him; he's got almost no sense of humour, and no actual memory of the planet, so it's more fun anyway."

 

So with Supergirl's back story now in mind Maggie watched Kara. And started to notice the little things. Like how Kara's wide smiles were backed with just a hint of desperation, like she was determined to enjoy everyone as much as possible, in every possible moment. How she had to help people, to be needed. How she used touch, in the form of hugs and cuddling to ground herself. How she didn't cope with change. But mostly what she noticed was how dependant on Alex she was. Alex understood where she was coming from, understood how she processed things. Alex was her shield from the rest of the world. And Alex jumped in to help her every time, without even being aware of it.

 

To be honest, Maggie wasn't sure she liked it. She'd never really dated anyone with close family and it felt a little strange, a little scary, to know that Alex had such an intense relationship with someone else. She was smart enough to keep her mouth shut though. She cared enough about Alex not to put her in a position where she felt like she had to chose between Maggie and Kara.

 

But as a rule, she didn't spend much time with Kara unless Alex was there. This was at least partially because when Alex wasn't working she had to squeeze in as much rest and relaxation as possible. She worked a lot. So did Maggie. Kara worked a little bit less at her day job, but worked a whole lot more at her second 'job'. Which she didn't get paid for.

 

Maggie wondered about that, one night over Chinese noodles. "So why doesn't Kara get any money from the DEO?"

 

"Wha?" said Kara, mouth stuffed with a potsticker. "Cuz, I don't work there."

 

"She's not an employee of the government," said Alex, who obviously knew more about the ins and outs. "It's a compromise. It means that she doesn't get paid, or hold an official position of responsibility, but it also means that if push comes to shove, she can do what she thinks is right."

 

"'She' feels that's important," finished Kara with a smile.

 

"It also means there is absolutely no documentation of Kara's identity written down. We learned the hard way that just because the DEO is a safe spot right now, it doesn't mean that it will stay that way. We started off trying to keep her name out of there, but..."

 

"But Alex can't stop yelling at me by name over the comms when she thinks I'm taking risks, so there wasn't much point."

 

"And it's pretty obvious to anyone who spends even a few seconds with Alex and Kara and Alex and Supergirl?"

 

"That too," said Alex, rolling her eyes. "Then Kara got lazy and started hanging around the DEO in her work clothes and glasses..."

 

Kara swallowed some noodles. "So everyone knows at this point, but it's not in the computer anywhere. Last year, right after everyone found out about J'onn, they put an army general in charge, and he was kind of awful."

 

"Kind of! Kara, he shipped J'onn and I off to CADMUS and he would have done the same to you if the president hadn't personally vouched for you!"

 

"Exactly. Anyway, that was when Alex and I decided that I needed to stay off the books."

 

Maggie took a few bites in silence. "Doesn't it also give the government plausible deniability? Like if you did something that they disagreed with?"

 

Kara and Alex exchanged a look and Maggie suddenly remembered that she'd heard about Supergirl going off the rails last year. Obviously there was more to that story. She moved past it before anyone could get off track.

 

"I mean, it also means that they could give you false information, or ask you to do something and then deny that they ever said it."

 

Kara screwed up her face. Alex just watched her. "Well, that could be a risk," said Kara. "Except a) I don't do things I think aren't right, even when they want me to, and b) it's one of the reasons that it's so good that Clark and I work in news. It means that we get our story to the people faster than the government can move, you know? We have a little bit more control."

 

Maggie thought that was a bit of a cop out, but didn't want to start a fight so she let the subject drop. The sisters moved on to discussing the show they were watching. Maggie watched them. They were amazingly close, when you considered that they'd been teenagers when they became sisters. And Maggie hadn't failed to notice that while Kara called Eliza her Foster Mother, she called Alex her sister, without any other explanation.

 

It was a few days later that she was hanging out in Alex's apartment, waiting for Alex to get off her shift, when she heard a key in the lock. "Hey babe, welcome back! Are you in the mood for red or white tonight?"

 

But it wasn't Alex, it was Kara, still in her work clothes. "Hey Kara, what's up?"

 

"Hey Maggie. Alex is due home soon right?"

 

"Yeah, why, what's up?" She looked up and realized that Kara was very red in the eyes. "You okay Kara?"

 

"Yeah, I mean, of course, why wouldn't I be okay?" Kara started. Maggie recognized Kara about to launch into a rapid babble of lies, and cut her off.

 

"Alex will be home in a few; she texted me 20 min ago to say she was leaving the DEO."

 

Kara nodded, and her eyes got glassy. "I'll just, head home, then, because obviously you guys have a thing going on tonight, and I wouldn't want to intrude, on the thing, because no one wants their sister around for things, and..."

 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Little Danvers." Maggie got up and quickly put a hand on Kara's arm. Kara was shaking. "Come on in and sit down. You are not intruding, you are welcome."

 

Kara nodded, the tears in her eyes welling up and silently streaming down her cheeks. "Thanks," she choked out, before sitting on the couch. Maggie got her a cookie and a box of tissues before she sat down beside her. Kara quickly ate the cookie before saying anything else. "I'm sorry for coming in like this, but I really..." she sniffed.

 

"You needed Alex. That's cool. She's your sister."

 

Kara nodded again, and looked forlornly at the floor.

 

"I know that I'm not Alex, but you could tell me what's wrong too. I hear I give good advice."

 

Kara looked up, surprised and gave a little smile. "I've heard that too."

 

"So?"

 

"It's... it's hard to explain."

 

"Give me a try," said Maggie, surprised to find she really meant it. It was strange to see the cracks in Kara's facade so clearly, and she found that she badly wanted to help if she could.

 

"It was just, today, I went out on a fire call this afternoon," Kara stopped to sniff again, and Maggie nodded encouragingly.

 

"And while I was there, the building started to collapse. I went to go and hold it up, but the fire captain said that it was empty." Kara wiped at the tears on her face, and Maggie handed her another tissue. "So I didn't. I let it collapse." Another sniff. And then nothing but tears. Maggie moved closer and put an arm around Kara. Whatever had happened, she was upset,and Maggie had been watching her long enough to know that she needed hugs.

 

"So then, I helped put the fire out, and I was scanning the building to make sure nothing was smouldering inside, and I saw..." sob "a child."

 

"Oh, Kara," murmured Maggie.

 

"So I yelled, and we had to dig through the building to get to him, and Maggie, he was so scared, and he was so hurt. His leg," gulp "his leg had the bone sticking out through it."

 

"Kara, it wasn't your fault."

 

Kara stared up at her with a look of absolute horror on his face. "Of course it was my fault. I didn't look before the building collapsed. I could have have saved him from being so scared. He thought we'd left him there on purpose. He thought I" sob "abandoned him."

 

At that point Kara lost it and Maggie wrapped her in a hug. Kara sobbed and sobbed and Maggie couldn't do anything but hold her. She felt useless, and was sure that if Alex had been there she'd have had some trick to make this better for Kara.

 

They'd been sitting that was for a few minutes, and Kara's sobs were starting to quiet when the door opened, and Alex came in.

 

"Kara!" She threw her keys down and ran over to the couch. Kara's arms reached out to her sister and Maggie let her go as Alex gathered her into a hug, sitting on the couch and almost pulling Kara into her lap. "Kara, what happened?" Alex asked, alarmed. She was giving Maggie a look that was a cross between suspicion and looking like she was asking for help.

 

Kara didn't seem to be in a place where she could answer Alex, so Maggie took pity on both of them. "A kid got hurt while Supergirl was helping at a fire today."

 

"Oh Kara hon, I'm so sorry."

 

"Alex, he thought... he thought... we left him.. on purpose! He thought I... I... I... abandoned him!" Kara at this point was a soggy, sobbing mess, and very obviously needed her sister. Maggie realized that this wasn't going to be dealt with quickly, and it felt a little weird to see Kara, who was so strong in some ways so completely broken down. So she patted Kara on the back, kissed Alex and headed for home.

 

At home she put a pizza in the oven and tried to figure out what she was feeling. Maggie didn't usually do that kind of comfort, especially not with people she wasn't dating. She had been very uncomfortable with Kara's emotions, but mostly because it made her feel helpless. And that situation wasn't about Maggie Sawyer, it was about Kara Danvers needing help to cope with something hard. Knowing what she did about Kara it wasn't surprising that she was so dependant on other people to help her cope, it was surprising that she was able to cope at all.

 

Alex came over to her apartment the next evening. "I'm sorry about Kara yesterday," she said.

 

"You don't have to be sorry. I mean, why apologize?" said Maggie, trying to shrug it off. She still felt a little uncomfortable with the whole situation and would have preferred to forget about it.

 

"You left. And it's not your job to look after her, it's mine. Just because we're together, doesn't mean that you signed up for that." Alex was wringing her hands. "I mean, I've obviously not had a whole lot of luck in the dating department but I've definitely had people be very uncomfortable with Kara and I, and who wanted me to spend less time with her and I just can't do that."

 

"It wasn't a big deal Alex," said Maggie, though she wasn't as confident as she sounded. "I left because I didn't want her to be uncomfortable, obviously Kara needed you, and I would never ask you to spend less time with her." Desperate for a change of subject she asked, "Does she get like that a lot?"

 

Alex sighed, but her hands relaxed. "No, not a lot. But same as any job, it's hard when it's kids. This was extra devastating because the kid thought she, as in Supergirl, had decided to intentionally not save him."

 

"I can see how that would be an issue."

 

"Kara has huge abandonment issues, because of the way her parents sent her here. She didn't know that the planet was dying, they basically got her up out of bed, and said goodbye and sent her here. The idea that a child could think she had abandoned them... well, you saw what it did to her."

 

Maggie made a face and took a drink to give herself a second to think about it. Being woken up, stuck in a space ship, losing everyone and everything you knew... yeah, there's some childhood trauma.

 

"Anyway, thank you. She said that you were great and just let her get it out."

 

"Is that what I did?" said Maggie with a huffed laugh. "I thought I was being useless."

 

"There's not really a whole lot to do for Kara, or anyone else who's that upset for that matter. You did great."

 

"Glad to hear it. Let Kara know that I'm glad she's feeling better?"

 

"Will do."

 

"Does she mind, you telling me all this stuff about her?"

 

"Not really. I mean, she wouldn't tell you herself, because she finds a lot of it really hard to talk about. But it never really bothers her to have people know. I think it helps her to feel less alone."

 

"Alone?" It was hard to imagine Sunny Danvers, who was on a first name basis with everyone down to the pizza delivery boy, feeling alone.

 

"She has to hide in plain sight, all day, everyday. Any chance she gets to be herself is a win."

 

Maggie could accept that. And she really felt like she had this whole 'girlfriend to the big sister' thing down. Until Alex had to head out to another state for an important meeting.

 

"Babe, I can't tell you where I'm going. I don't know where I'm going yet."

 

"Is Kara going?"

 

"No, she doesn't work for the DEO, remember and this is some kind of National meeting on the subject. I think we're going to be debating dropping our black ops status. With the Alien Amnesty act, we need to change how we are policing Aliens. And there's going to need to be a department for helping resettlement and refugee claimants... it's going to be secretive and boring."

 

"Okay, stay safe."

 

The one thing that hadn't occurred to Maggie was something happening to Kara. It started when Maggie was missing Alex. She'd only been gone 2 nights of her expected week, but Maggie was feeling sentimental, so she used her key to go and stay at Alex's. She had just gotten into bed, and was reading on her phone when she heard a thump at the window. Years of training and a healthy helping of paranoia had her out of bed holding her gun.

 

She peeked around the corner, and realized that the patio door was open. She crept across the room without putting her gun down. She'd just shut the door when she heard a groan from behind her. She whirled around and saw Supergirl on the floor. She put the gun down and ran to her.

 

"Kara, what's wrong?"

 

"Maggie?" Kara whispered. "Where's Alex? Need Alex?"

 

"Alex is away remember? Her and Hank went to conference thing?"

 

Kara groaned again. "I forgot. I need her."

 

"What for Little Danvers? Can I help?"

 

Kara took a deep breath and tried to roll over. She let out a harsh breath and moved her cape from where it was covering her leg.

 

"Holy shit!" yelled Maggie. Her heart was in her throat. Kara was bleeding. There was something green and glowing stuck in her leg and she was bleeding all over the floor. "I should call the DEO."

 

"No!" said Kara. "It was someone from the DEO. I don't know who. You can patch me up."

 

Maggie did not like the sound of this plan, since it was lacking in a few key details, but since she couldn't just call 911 she figured she'd follow Kara's lead for the moment.

 

"Okay. First things first, lets ditch the cape." Maggie found herself in the enormously strange position of helping Supergirl take off her cape. Once that was done she ran for some towels and helped Kara to the couch. It took a while. Maggie wasn't sure how long ago this had happened, but Kara was definitely a little out of it, and wobbly. And she was very heavy.

 

Once she was on the couch Kara started giving instructions. "You gotta.. get the Kryptonite... outta me." she gasped, gesturing to the stone poking out of her leg.

 

"Okay Little Danvers, okay." The surrealism of this night just wouldn't stop. She definitely didn't want to play doctor with Kara, but there wasn't anything else to do. The one thing Maggie was sure of was that she couldn't let anything happen to Kara while Alex was away. She washed her hands for the sake of cleanliness and gathered the rest of Alex's hefty first aid kit, and quite a few more sheets and towels.

 

Maggie took a deep breath, daunted by the task ahead of her. She moved back to the couch, where Kara had closed her eyes. "Kara! Wake up, we gotta get this hunk of rock out of your leg."

 

"Wha...." said Kara dreamily. "Whazz my leg?"

 

"Kara!" said Maggie, wishing she could do this while Kara was unconscious but knowing that there was too much chance of Kara trying to move away from Maggie or lashing out at the pain. Too much could go wrong, from Kara breaking the furniture and hurting herself worse, to hurting Maggie so that both of them were out of commission.

 

"Maggie!" Kara ground out, eyes finally focusing on Maggie's face. "I'm here. What's the plan?"

 

"I'm going to get that out of your leg, you are going to hold on."

 

Kara nodded. "Okay."

 

Maggie grabbed the end of the green crystal and looked up at Kara. "On 3 okay? 1, 2, 3" Maggie pulled as hard as she could in one smooth move. Kara screamed from between her clenched teeth and Maggie heard the arm of the couch give way as Kara squeezed it. But the long green shard slide out of Kara's leg, and blood began to flow quickly. Maggie put the shard on the ground and grabbed another towel. Kara seemed to have greyed out again.

 

"Kara?"

 

"Mmm?"

 

"Kara, put your hand on the towel and push hard."

 

The couch began to groan. "Okay, not that hard. But keep pressure on your leg while I deal with this."

 

"Pressure. Right," mumbled Kara. "You need... to get it.. in lead. Something lead..."

 

What the fuck was made of lead? Maggie looked around frantically, not sure what to do next.

 

Kara must have realized. "Under Alex's... bed. There are a bunch of boxes. They are lead-lined."

 

Maggie grabbed the stupid shard that had caused the issue and ran into Alex's room. Kara was correct; there were grey metal boxes under there. She grabbed one that looked the right size and ran back to the living room. "Hey, Supergirl is this lead?"

 

Kara opened her eyes and squinted for a long second. "Can't see init. Must be."

 

Opening the box, Maggie saw some photos and random trinkets which she dumped out onto the kitchen counter. She shoved the piece of kryptonite into the box and shut the lid.

 

"Oh, thank Rao. That's better," said Kara from the couch, sounding far more coherent than she had since arriving.

 

"Really? That fast?"

 

"This isn't fast for me," Kara said with a grimace. "I'm gonna need sun before this is going to heal. Can you bandage it?"

 

"I took first aid, it's required," said Maggie with more confidence than she felt.

 

"It doesn't have to be great. It's only what, a couple of hours til sunrise? All we gotta do is keep enough blood inside me that I'm still alive at that point."

 

Maggie blanched.

 

"Sorry, I know that's not a tasteful joke."

 

"It's not a joke at all if you could see the floor behind you."

 

Kara twisted around a bit and made a face. "Okay, yeah."

 

The wound wasn't big, but it was bleeding freely, and strange green streaks that looked almost like veins were up and down Kara's leg. "Little Danvers, is that an infection?"

 

Kara looked away, and made a face. "No, that's the Kryptonite. It'll go away when it starts to heal."

 

Maggie got to work at that point, using the sheets, towels and the first aid kit to bandage Kara's leg to the best of Maggie's ability. When she was finished, she collapsed next to Kara on the couch.

 

"You scared the crap out of me Little Danvers."

 

"Sorry. If it makes you feel better I scared the crap out of me too. I hate Kryptonite. I hate that pieces of a planet I love can hurt me."

 

"I bet. What does it feel like?" Maggie asked, partially out of curiosity, but also to change the subject as talking about Kara's lost homeworld didn't seem like it would help to keep her conscious.

 

"When it's in the room, it makes me nauseous and it feels like I'm exhausted and overworked and everything starts to ache. Depending on how strong it is and how much there is, sometimes I can't even stand up." Kara laid her head on Maggie's shoulder as she talked, yawning. "If I get stabbed with it, it's awful. Alex says that since I don't ever really feel pain, my nerves aren't used to it and it's worse than it would be if a human was stabbed with something similar. Plus once the Kryptonite is in my system it spreads. And then I feel awful. Just awful." She shivered. Maggie frowned.

 

"How about now?"

 

"Better, but still kind of awful. And cold." Maggie looked around, and realized Supergirl's cape (blanket, Maggie remembered) was draped over the back of the couch. She pulled it down, and covered them both with it.

 

"Thanks Maggie." She yawned again. "I didn't think I was going to like this, but I really do."

 

"Like what?" asked Maggie.

 

"Like having two big sisters. But it's totally better than having one."

 

Maggie didn't answer. Her chest felt tight, and her eyes filled with tears. Who knew that having a superhero tell you that they considered you family was such an emotional experience? They sat in silence for a minute and then Kara moved a little.

 

"Does it still hurt?"

 

Kara nodded. "Yeah."

 

"Do you want anything for it?"

 

"Nothing works," said Kara with a harsh laugh. She was quiet for a second, and then her voice got very small. "Maggie, I'm scared."

 

"I know Kara. Me too." And Maggie was. She could see that the bandages she'd wrapped around Kara's wound were rapidly soaking with blood. She looked at her watch. 4:30am. How long til sunrise?

 

"What happened tonight Kara?"

 

"I don't know. I hate it when Alex is away." She took a deep breath. "So there was a random Fort Rozz prisoner that was breaking things in the industrial park." She took another deep breath. "And it wasn't that important, since no one was there, but there was a lot of property damage and I wasn't doing anything else since Alex is away..."

 

"So you went to help. How did you end up stabbed?"

 

"Well, after I knocked out the big bug – seriously Maggie, this thing looked just like a giant cricket – I went to tell the team I was leaving. And everything was fine, and thank you Supergirl, and then I took off. And I wasn't in the air more than half a second before I realized that everything hurt and I had to land again. When I saw what had happened, I flew here as best I could." She yawned, and Maggie knew that was a potentially bad sign; humans yawn as a sign of blood loss.

 

"Were you hit in the air or stabbed on the ground?" asked Maggie. This was a horrible conversation, but it was better than having Kara pass out on her, or worse case scenario, having to solve this without all the facts if Kara ended up unconscious for awhile.

 

Kara made a tiny move that might have been a shrug. "Dunno. If it was while I was on the ground it took a few seconds for me to notice, which isn't usual, but I don't see how they get something that big airborne. "

 

Maggie looked down and realized that she was going to add more bandages to the blood soaked collection on Kara's leg. "Kara, I'm going to go and grab some more towels okay? Try to stay awake. Not much longer til sunrise." Maggie had no actual idea of what time sunrise was, but she knew the value of hope.

 

Kara nodded, and grimaced at the blood soaked rags on her leg. "Awake, right," she muttered.

 

Maggie was back in a few seconds, and Kara stared at the counter top with long blinks.

 

"Hey Kara, let's have a look at this, okay?" Remembering that she wasn't meant to take off the bottom layer of bandages, just in case she took of some scabbing, she replaced the towel she'd folded on top. This time she looked at Kara before getting her to hold the towel in place again. "So what are the odds that I can tie something tightly enough to cut off all the circulation to your toes?"

 

Kara snorted. "Usually impossible, but I'm kinda powered down right now. I doubt you'd be able to cut it all off, but some?"

 

Maggie nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna try a tourniquet. I have no idea if this will help with the blood loss, but I doubt it will make it worse at this point." After some running around Maggie was ready to use her good leather belt to try and stop some of the bleeding. "Kara?" she said once everything was in place. "This is going to hurt. Is there anything you can hold onto?"

 

Kara shook her head, and Maggie felt awful, but pressed on. "Okay, we'll do it on 3 just like last time, okay? 1, 2, 3!" On three Maggie threw everything she had into pulling the belt as tight as she could. Kara groaned loudly, and her hands came up and made fists, but otherwise she didn't move.

 

"There. That's the best I can do for now. Hopefully it will help."

 

"I'm sure it will," said Kara after a few deep breaths. "Maggie?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"If this doesn't end the way we want it to,"

 

"Kara,"

 

"No, just let me finish. Alex will tell you, I have a weird things for goodbyes. I didn't really get to say any when I left Krypton."

 

Maggie didn't know what to say to that so she motioned for Kara to continue. "Just, tell Alex and Eliza that I love them? And look after Alex? She'll be a mess."

 

"I will hon, I promise." Maggie fought hard against the tears that were welling up. She wasn't crying because Kara wasn't dying. She wasn't.

 

"And look after you too, okay?"

 

Maggie nodded but didn't say anything else.

 

"Maggie?"

 

"Yeah, Kara"

 

"Will you hug me?"

 

Maggie didn't even answer, she just sat next to Kara and pulled her into her own body. They sat there for what seemed like a long time, Maggie listening to Kara's increasingly laboured breathing. She didn't quite drift off to sleep, but she was definitely not as aware as she should have been when she suddenly realized that the room was getting lighter.

 

"Sunrise!" she said in shock. "Wake up Kara, the sun's coming up, let's get you recharged you little solar battery."

 

Kara groaned, but didn't respond. Maggie jumped into action, since the groan meant she was alive. "Kara," she said, gently tapping her face, "Kara, wake up."

 

Kara groaned again, but still didn't respond.

 

"Kara, come on honey, wake up!" Maggie's heart started to race the more time went by without being able to wake Kara. "Sunlight..." Kara was on the couch, facing away from the patio doors. "Come on Kara, we need to get you some light, you little potted plant."

 

"naplin"

 

"Kara?!?! Wake up hon, and we'll get you some light so you feel better."

 

"K," said Kara, her eyes only half open. Maggie doubted she was fully conscious, but she could deal with what she had. She was able to pull Kara to standing, and put a blue sleeved arm over her own shoulder. Looking up at Kara's face, she realized that her eyes were open.

 

"You with me Kara?"

 

Kara grimaced with pain, but managed to say "Yup."

 

They started limping over to the patio, while Maggie praised any deity that was listening for the fact that Alex had an Eastern facing balcony. (Though she also wondered if something like this had happened before and Alex had picked this place on purpose?)

 

It took a startlingly long time to limp to the patio, since Kara had one leg that was essentially non-functional, and Maggie was too short to hold her up properly. But they made it. And then Maggie helped Kara to sit in a patio chair...

 

"Ooooh," said Kara. "That's better."

 

And it was, almost like magic. Within minutes, Kara's colour was immediately better, and the strange green streaks faded. Maggie looked at Kara's leg, with a few bloody towels tied on and realized that she'd forgotten to take the belt/tourniquet off. Once that was done, it wasn't long before Kara was moving her leg and starting to take off the bandages.

 

"Hey, should you be doing that?" asked Maggie nervously.

 

Kara smiled. "I know it's weird since you just finished watching me bleed all night but look," and when she pulled the bloody towels off, there was nothing more than a tiny scab that was rapidly disappearing.

 

"Huh," said Maggie.

 

"I know it's weird. It's just kind of... who I am." Kara ducked her head and looked at the ground. "Sorry."

 

"Little Danvers, are you kidding me? Sorry? That shit is awesome!"

 

"Really?" said Kara, smiling again. "A lot of people get very weird when they are confronted with the fact that I am an alien up close, you know? I look like a human, but I don't work like one, and it makes people nervous."

 

"Nah. Being an alien just explains your ongoing love of N'Sync. You'd have to be."

 

Kara laughed, but was cut off by a shriek from the door. Maggie and Kara both looked up and then in a blur Kara was gone. Maggie followed, just in time to see Alex standing in front of the closed door, sobbing.

 

"Hey Hey, I'm fine, Maggie's fine, everyone is okay, right? I'm fine." Kara grabbed her sister and started to rock her back and forth. Looking around it was pretty obvious what had Alex upset. There were bloody towels everywhere, plus the dried puddle of blood behind the couch. The couch itself was probably a write off between the blood and the fact that Kara had torn part of the arm off when Maggie had removed the Kryptonite shard.

 

Maggie ran over to join the hugging and to help reassure Alex. "Hey Danvers, it's okay, we had everything under control."

 

"Clearly," said Alex through a sob. "What the hell happened here?"

 

Kara quickly outlined what had happened on the mission, and Maggie filled in the blanks from when she'd arrived at the apartment.

 

"Kara, are you telling me you forgot I wasn't here? What would have happened if Maggie hadn't been staying here!?!"

 

Kara shrugged. "She was though. She was awesome – best big sister stand in I could have hoped for."

 

Maggie ignored the swell of happiness that rose in her chest in order to cut off the rant she could see Alex starting. "What are you doing home anyway? Don't you have like 4 more nights?"

 

Alex shook her head and took a deep breath as they moved to sit on the couch, sitting close to avoid the bloody spot. "Vasquez called. Portolesi had contacted her and said that he thought he saw Kryptonite on the mission and that he was worried about Supergirl and thought we might have another mole. With what Kara's said, I'm pretty sure it's Johnson, the prick. He's an expert knife thrower." Alex texted something off. "There, Vasquez can deal with it. Kara, go change clothes, you are going to bed."

 

Kara shook her head and smiled. "I'm fine Alex, I was just going to head home and let you and Maggie catch up."

 

"For starters, you aren't actively bleeding out anymore, but nothing but time and sunlight is going to fully replace that volume of blood. And secondly, cut me some slack, please? I'm not letting you out of my sight for the moment, do you have any idea what I was thinking when I walked in and saw all this?" She hugged her sister again, and Kara rolled her eyes, but was quickly changed into a pair of pyjamas that she kept at Alex's and tucked up in bed with Alex sitting next to her, running fingers through her hair.

 

Maggie had been doing her best to clean up while Alex looked after Kara. Once she'd gathered the linens and put on a wash, she tried quick mopping the floor before realizing it was going to need more intensive scrubbing and going to sit next to Alex on the bed.

 

Kara, despite the fact that she'd said she was fine, was sound asleep. Alex had taken the whole curtain rod down to let in more light, and Kara slept with streams of sunlight across her body.

 

"She okay?" asked Maggie, still nervous.

 

Alex nodded. "Thanks to you." Alex used her other hand to hold Maggie's. "Maggie, I can't even say enough, thank you so much. When Vasquez called..."

 

Maggie let go of Alex in favour of putting both arms around her from behind. "So you've been in a blind panic since you got the call last night, and then arrived to the... horror show in the living room. How are you doing?"

 

Alex let out a shaky laugh. "Better now. Home. You are here, Kara is here, and I got to learn something."

 

"What's that?"

 

"That you have Kara's back too."

 

Maggie frowned into Alex's shoulder. "Of course I do."

 

Alex looked sad. "I have trust issues, you know that. But I'm way more likely to take the risk for myself than I am for Kara. I can be a little overprotective."

 

"I had noticed that. When we first started hanging out, I thought she must have a disability or illness or something."

 

Maggie expected Alex to laugh, but instead she cocked her head to the side, thinking. "You know, it's not really that different, aside from the fact that it's a secret. She gets overwhelmed, has times where she can't handle loud noises, or crowds. Weird things can make her sick. She has panic attacks. Special dietary considerations. When she first started school I actually did a lot of research into Autism Spectrum Disorders, and tried to convince my parents to have Kara diagnosed."

 

Maggie laughed at that.

 

"Obviously, they didn't go for it, but I've never forgotten how many of the symptoms match up with the things she finds hard. And she covers for it really well now, but she didn't always. And it's so nice to know that you get her."

 

"I wouldn't go that far," said Maggie feeling awkward. "But I always knew she was part of the package, and the more I learn about her, the easier it gets."

 

"She does have a way of getting under your skin and making you care about her."

 

They sat in the quiet, enjoying the early morning sunshine, until Alex yawned.

 

"All right, we should both lay down," said Maggie.

 

Alex gestured to the bed, "But, we can't, Kara is right there."

 

Maggie cut her off. "I don't know if you've noticed Danvers, but this bed is enormous. We can all fit in it."

 

Alex smiled, and her eyes shone in a suspiciously watery way, because a woman who was willing to share a bed with her sister (when that sister had been injured) was a keeper in Alex's world. And when Alex was in the middle of the bed, still keeping a hand on Kara (Maggie suspected for both her own peace of mind, and to help Kara) with Maggie being the big spoon on the other side, she had to reflect that she'd never in a million year have thought that life could be so good.

 

"Hey Danvers?"

 

"Mmhm?"

 

"Why do you have lead-lined boxes under your bed?"

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I have about as much first aid experience as Maggie, plus access to Google. Tourniquets seem to be heavily debated, but I figured for the story, and on Supergirl, it really wasn't as big a risk. Please know that I am not advising any of this as a course of medical treatment.
> 
> As always, this is almost all my headcanon. I really have trouble with Superman's actions, particularly as portrayed in the show. I really love Alex and Maggie. I especially love Kara and Maggie bonding.
> 
> Comparing Kara's issue to ASD and/or Sensory Processing Disorder is only based on the similarity of symptoms. And the fact that if Alex was a practically genius kid who was resentful, it's something I could totally see her trying.
> 
> Alex has lead-lined boxes because it's the only way to keep secrets from her sister, of course. ;)


End file.
